A federal judge in Los Angeles on Thursday tentatively threw out the conviction of a Missouri woman for her role in a cruel Internet hoax on a teenage girl who ended up committing suicide.

The decision by U.S. District Judge George H. Wu, which will not become final until he files a written ruling, was a blow to prosecutors who had hoped to send the message that cyber-bullying is a crime. Wu had repeatedly delayed sentencing to consider a defense motion to dismiss the entire case.

U.S. Atty. Thomas P. O'Brien, whose office prosecuted the woman, said after the decision was announced that the law needed to be strengthened."We call it cyber-bullying and we don't have a law to address it," he said at a news conference.

Read the complete story

Internet servers like MySpace cannot be held liable when minors are sexually assaulted by people they first meet on a website, a California appeals court ruled in an opinion filed late on Tuesday.

The ruling by the Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles is consistent with federal appeals court rulings.

It comes a day before the sentencing, also in Los Angeles, of a Missouri woman accused of using a fake MySpace profile to harass a teenage girl. The girl committed suicide.

The appellate court consolidated several similar lawsuits brought by minor girls dubbed "Julie Does" and their parents or guardians, claiming that MySpace failed to implement available age-verification software or set the default security on the girls' accounts to "private."

Read the complete story

Timothy J. Richmond was arrested by Mesa County Sheriff’s Department deputies Monday on suspicion of burglary, trespassing and criminal mischief.

Richmond, 20, ran out of the 31 1/2 Road house, breaking a $200 window in the process, after he heard people entering the house to feed a cat while the homeowner was out of town, the Sheriff’s Department said. The men entering the house discovered Richmond’s MySpace page open on the home computer and called the sheriff, deputies said.

Read the complete story

Set to go live today (June 30th) is a new website designed to aid emerging and established artists and assist in creating an online creative collaboration.  Let the DC art scene rejoice.
TALENTHOUSE was the brainchild of British recording artist Amos Pizzey and a group of venture capitalists to include current TalentHouse CEO Roman Scharf. 

Though it officially goes live today, it starts with a base of 25,000 artists signed up in its Alpha test phase - and these are some heavy hitters.  A sampling of the current community includes international curator Dan Cameron, fashion icon Naomi Campbell, actor Stephen Duff, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, and Oscar nominee Fernando Meirelles (whom you probably saw in City of God).  Performer Jay-Z just endorsed the project as well.

The goal of the site is to inspire collaborative work on original projects.  These projects can be commissioned by any artists in the community or proposed by an established artist looking to work in tandem with another.We're thinking MySpace... and a little bit more.

A Minnesota appellate court has ruled that posting sensitive information about someone on MySpace can be an invasion of privacy.
The decision stemmed from an incident in 2006, when Minnesota resident Candice Yath went to a clinic to seek medical treatment for a sexually transmitted disease. Shortly afterward, someone created a fake profile of Yath on MySpace.

That profile carried the name "Rotten Candy," but included a photo of Yath. The page said that "Rotten Candy" had a sexually transmitted disease, cheated on her husband, and was addicted to plastic surgery, according to the court's opinion. The profile, which had garnered six "friends," was removed a few days after it came to Yath's attention.

Read the complete story

When you've just gotten laid off, the last thing you want to hear is that you can't cash your last check because of one final payroll screwup. But that's apparently exactly what's going on over at MySpace, which laid off over 30% of its staff (or around 480 employees) earlier this month. The company has just asked many of its laid off employees to refrain from cashing their checks due to an error in calculating how much they should be receiving. Employees are getting voicemails from FIM notifying them that the company has issued a stop payment on their checks, and that they can expect an updated check next week.

This isn't the company's only blunder during this sensitive time. We've heard that that last day for the terminated MySpace employees was chaotic and poorly planned, and that the company hasn't been very tactful regarding treatment of laid off employees. In the press release announcing the layoffs, CEO Owen Van Natta called the company "bloated", displaying a surprising lack of respect towards the terminated workers. It gets worse: MySpace has been holding a number of meetings for staff who are still at the company, during which they've referred to the recently terminated employees as "fat". Unfortunately, some of these "fatty" employees have been present at these very meetings ? the company has kept a number of terminated employees onboard through the duration of their contract, creating a group of so-called "walking dead" who are being insulted to their faces. Classy.

Read the complete story

Wrenching job cuts at News Corp's MySpace are only the first steps the online hangout must take to regain its cool.

Outshone by newcomers Facebook and Twitter, MySpace must reverse worrying trends in user metrics and replace a lucrative $300-million-a-year advertising deal with Google Inc that expires next year, or risk lining up among Friendster, AltaVista, GeoCities and other once-mighty Internet brands.

That means redefining itself as a music and entertainment site, improving returns for advertisers and maybe even finding a new home, say analysts and former employees,

Read the complete story

The Hertfordshire & Essex High School has installed a new online learning environment called Frog to allow teaching and learning to continue outside the school classroom. The technology has significantly enhanced flexible learning as it allows students and teachers to access all school information, including homework, diaries, email, resource booking and timetables, from one online location.

According to recent research, only 67 per cent of secondary schools are using a learning platform, with a further 29 per cent planning to implement one in late 2009.* The Government has set schools the target of offering parents real-time access to their child’s learning on a timely and frequent basis – at least once per term by 2010. Having implemented Frog, The Hertfordshire & Essex High School - a Science Specialist College and Leadership partner school with over 1030 students - is set to meet this target one year in advance.

Read the complete story

Wei, who has also served as VP of Chinese video website LeTV.com, replaces Luo Chuan, who resigned from his position as MySpace China CEO at the end of 2008.

According to local reports, Luo currently heads up the 139.com social networking service for China Mobile.

The news follows an executive restructure at MySpace on a global level. In April, CEO and co-founder Chris DeWolfe resigned from his post, remaining with the company on the board as a strategic advisor. He was replaced by former Facebook executive Owen Van Natta.

The company further announced plans to lay off 300 positions worldwide and close offices outside the US. Its Chinese and Japanese operations are not thought to be affected.

MySpace today announced its intent to restructure its international operations and refocus personnel around a smaller number of territories, while retaining a robust global consumer presence.

The proposed restructuring plan, which is subject to consultation with international employees in some countries, would apply to all international divisions of the company, reducing MySpace’s international staff from 450 employees to approximately 150 employees and closing at least 4 of its offices outside the United States.

Read the complete story